The timepiece of fate: the Rolex debacle and Gov. Bob McDonnell’s rapid political downturn

If Gov. Bob McDonnell were ever to run for political office again, his campaign slogan could reasonably be, “I plead the fis-zith!” (in the words of one Dave Chappelle Show). But the likelihood that Bob McDonnell will ever run for political office again has been greatly reduced by the continuing avalanche of stories, accounts, and revelations regarding the governor’s gift-taking relationship with the legally embattled CEO of Star Scientific.

The latest story to come swirling out of the growing McDonnell I-O-U factory is regarding the $6,500 Rolex watch that the Virginia governor reportedly received from Jonnie Williams, CEO of Star Scientific. To top off the icing for the Democratic Party of Virginia, McDonnell declined to comment about this latest report on his monthly radio chat on Richmond’s WRVA radio.

McDonnell stated during his radio show, "What I would say to everybody is that I wish that I could say more about this, but given the reviews that are being done, that's probably all I can say at this point." We wish you could too, ‘Bob’, but since you would most likely fall into a spiral of falsehoods and half-truths, it’s probably best that you let your lawyers do the talking for you. Whoops, there goes my objectivity.

McDonnell did, however, mount a spirited defense, a defense I’d like to call “I have no idea what goes on in the life of my adult children.” Talking about his 32-year-old daughter, McDonnell said, "I don't have much of an idea about what she gets for Christmas or her birthday, so I think that would be (a) tough ... duty to impose on any officeholder to know what their adult children, for instance, are getting, but there might be some other appropriate limits for children who live in the house.” This man is brilliant, no wonder he was elected governor!

While Gov. McDonnell may not know what his oldest daughter gets for Christmas, he certainly remembers her stint in the U.S. Army and her tour in Iraq when he’s stumping and attempting to tie himself to “Service, honor, and hard work [and a faulty memory]”.

At the very least my fellow Virginians, let it not be said that Bob McDonnell could be bought for anything less in timepiece quality than a Rolex. There is nothing worse than a dirty politician than a dirty politician without a fashion sense or expensive taste. Oh, I joke the governor!

Supreme Court ruling on Defense of Marriage Act arouses negative reactions from religious sphere

If by any chance you were wondering why religion has lost so much of its appeal in modern-day America in general, and Virginia in particular, look no further than the reactions of religious leaders in Virginia to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

According to Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, “Today, I join with my brother Bishops throughout this great nation in expressing my profound dismay at the decisions announced today by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding marriage. The Court’s decision to strike down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and to refuse to rule on the merits of a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, will have tragic consequences for our nation.” If you look upon equal rights for all Americans as having tragic consequences then we might as well start building our bridge to hell (if you believe in that sort of thing).

While advocates of same-sex marriage have, by and large, celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the court’s decision did nothing to strike down individual state bans on same-sex marriage, a ruling that would truly have been a victory for same-sex marriage advocates.

Maybe my theological competency is a bit rusty, but how exactly do Christians in particular explain the presence of homosexuals in the first place if God, as an all-powerful being, abhors the presence of homosexuals on this rock we call earth? I have no intention, however, of engaging in a theological discussion. 

Thousands of years have already proven the futility of attempting to use logic in the sphere of religion. I ask only to point to the absurdity of many a religious position.

The shame is that religious institutions are an important glue for many Americans, a social structure that helps millions of individuals live their lives in happiness, contentment, and/or relative ease. Paradoxically, however, the same attributes that make religious institutions appealing to its followers are the same attributes that may eventually lead to its descent into obscurity.

The past two generations have shown greater and greater tolerances for the “other” and this trend doesn’t appear to be in danger of retreating in the next few rounds of American generations. That is, the push for equal rights for same-sex couples looks to heighten in the generations to come if it already hasn’t been achieved. In the process, religious institutions that cannot or will not accept this social turn will be viewed more and a more as a hindrance to social progress, an undesirable element that society by and large no longer needs.

Of course, religion’s demise in America has been predicted before and its resiliency has been tremendous. The past, however, is not the present and our world is light-years away from what it was even 20 years ago. In our own time, the past holds less sway than at any other time in our young country’s history. Churches, beware!

Coal Country VA Republicans respond to President Obama’s new offensive against climate change

The Republican Party backlash to President Obama’s recently announced climate change plan didn’t take long among Virginia’s “coal country” Republicans as U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith (Salem), Del. Terry Kilgore (Scott County), and Virginia Sen. Bill Carrico (Grayson) admonished the president’s new vision for America’s energy future.

The admonishments came on Tuesday and none of the Republicans mentioned above mixed words about their views towards President Obama’s climate change strategies. U.S. Rep. Griffith said, "Declaring war on coal is declaring war on southwest Virginia and its economy and its jobs and its people because so much our economy is tied directly or indirectly to coal.” It appears Mr. Griffith is upset!

And not only did these Republicans aim their fire at President Obama, they also attempted to tie Democratic Party candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe, to the president’s new strategy on energy policy. According to Sen. Carrico, a governorship with McAuliffe at the helm would work "hand-in-hand with an Obama administration that are just bypassing Congress to make their own rules on how this climate change will come about." Of course, there isn’t any evidence to back up Carrico’s claim but there IS plenty of evidence to support President Obama’s new strategy on energy policy. Go figure, the Republican Party is once again on the wrong side of an issue.

While Virginia’s coal country Republicans bemoan the potential losses in jobs and the alleged spikes in energy prices over the short term, it’s this type of small-minded, short-term, thinking that has brought America and the world to the edge of a global warming influenced set of catastrophes.

For those who may lose their jobs as a result of President Obama’s new energy initiatives, I am truly sorry, but it’s time to finally do what is right for the rest of the country and the world. Conservatives supposedly believe in individual initiative and the ability of each individual to find a decent job, if only they work hard enough. So take some initiative!

To my mind, Republicans like Carrico, Kilgore, and Griffith are arguing that it’s okay to slowly kill thousands of Americans every year because the source producing the killings employ many of their constituents. “It’s okay America, we should allow al-Qaeda to operate in the Middle East, they help bolster the U.S. defense industry as well as jobs in Virginia!” See, this line of reasoning just doesn’t work out.

In a perfect world, no one would have to lose out as a result of much needed policy directions. But we don’t live in a perfect world; there will always be winners and losers. But I have confidence that coal country Virginians (assuming they do in fact lose their jobs) will find gainful employment elsewhere because they ARE hard working individuals. I am also confident that one day Americans will look back on this conversation with amusement. “I can’t believe anyone ever argued for jobs that tremendously pollute our air!” As is so often the case in life, good results come from making the right decisions, and the right decisions aren’t always the easiest. 

President Obama publicly announces plan to confront climate change (hint: King Coal isn’t happy)

President Obama officially launched his “ambitious” campaign against the rising threat of global warming and climate change on Tuesday, a move that environmentally and human health conscious individuals like me have been waiting five years for.

While making the decision to confront some of America’s biggest offenders in the climate change human drama could have been made sooner, it took an enormous amount of personal courage and political stamina to do what President Obama has done: attack King Coal and other powerful interests in the country that have and are significantly adding to our planet’s warming dilemma.

According to former Vice President Al Gore, “I applaud the new measures announced by President Barack Obama this afternoon to help solve the climate crisis — particularly the decision to limit global warming pollution from existing as well as new power plants.”

For all of the vitriol that will spew from the political right in reaction to President Obama’s climate change 

speech and subsequent plan to confront it, America and the world will be a better place to live in, a world that our children and their children can inherit with as much opportunity to breathe clean air that we’ve had. What price can anyone put on this precious gift?

In their focus on the almighty dollar, many individuals in the conservative camp, in particular, have lost sight of the incalculable monetary benefits of a planet further away from the precipice of self-inflicted human and ecological disasters. That is, these individuals have failed to take account of the enormous financial benefits of a healthier planet. And maybe they won’t see or ever care to see what we’ve gained as a result of moving away from our most greenhouse gas intensive industries and practices.

While I’ve had much to criticize President Obama for recently (e.g., the unfounded and dangerous use of the 1917 Espionage Act and the publicly unacknowledged collection of communication data from Americans, among other issues), America’s 44^th president has once again proved that big ideas, big dreams, and “hope” can lead to big and positive changes in our own lifetimes.

Cut from the mold of John F. Kennedy, President Obama believed in making tough decisions and working together to form a brighter future for ourselves and generations yet to be. This is the President Obama millions of Americans voted for. This is the President Obama I’m proud to say I support. 

Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors moves to consolidate its control over mining authority

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors has begun the process to create a Pittsylvania mining ordinance and will gather on July 1 to supposedly hear from residents. But according to one source, the meeting is neither a public hearing nor does Pittsylvania County have a mining ordinance to begin with, something that other reports have misstated.

For the sake of this story, however, I’d like to focus on the board’s attempt to consolidate its control over mining authority.

As the issue of uranium mining has continuously sprouted its ugly head in the commonwealth, it has come to the board’s attention that it has no authority over whether or not a large-scale mining operation can be brought to a conservation or agricultural district. As a publicly elected body, this lack of authority is all the more striking.

Instead of a democratically elected body making important decisions like these, the Pittsylvania Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals issue special-use permits for mining. Neither of these bodies are directly elected by the citizens of Pittsylvania.

Assistant county administrator for planning and development in Pittsylvania County, Greg Sides, posed a few important questions that the board of supervisors will want to consider as another round of uranium mining considerations looms in the not-too-distant future. Sides advised the board to consider the following questions: should Pittsylvania County require mining to take place only with a special-use permit in the industrial district/heavy industry area? Is uranium ore compatible in a conservation or agricultural district?

Sides also noted that the Pittsylvania zoning ordinance doesn’t give mining a definition and asked whether or not mining should be defined in the ordinance.

What should be obvious to any reasonable observer is that uranium mining nor milling is an “agricultural,” and definitely not a “conservation,” form of digging up the earth.  

As such, the most logical move would be to follow Pittsylvania Board Chairman Marshall Ecker’s idea and zone mining as heavy industry, instead of in the agricultural district. To claim that uranium mining, for example, is agricultural in nature is like claiming that a hydrogen bomb blast is a cure for cancer. The claims don’t make sense, in other words.

While the democratically elected board of supervisors seeks to sow up its control over the mining process in its county, we can all rest assured that our friends at Virginia Uranium Inc. are already pursuing different paths to achieve its goal of lifting Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining. Who cares what the citizens of Pittsylvania want!

Virginian’s will soon get to see another confrontation between cold-hearted capitalism and democratic decision-making as it plays out in Pittsylvania County. And, of course, there are also the lives of thousands of Virginians and a landscape still untarnished by radioactive tailings to consider. 

Drilling off Virginia’s coast for oil and natural gas was a bad idea years ago and still is

Conservatives are often identified by their “hawkish” views on military matters such as national defense as well as their willingness to dig a hole in just about anything that will produce energy for the U.S. (or foreign) markets. But in the case of drilling for oil and natural gas off the shorelines of Virginia, conservatives can’t have their cake and eat it, too.

The Virginian-Pilot recently ran a piece about some of the problems associated with drilling off Virginia’s coast. One of those key problems is the “peril” that such drilling would pose to U.S. Navy operations. The bastion of the U.S. war machine, the Pentagon, has publicly held for years that drilling off of Virginia’s coast “will interfere with the military’s mission.”

According to the Pilot, nearly 50 percent of the economy of Hampton Roads depends on Department of Defense (DoD) spending largesse. Aside from indicating the overwhelming spending power of the DoD, this figure also points to the potentially crippling effects that drilling for oil and natural gas off Virginia’s coast could have on particular economies in the state.

So the answer should be obvious, right? Virginia should be in unanimous agreement that drilling off of Virginia’s coast presents the commonwealth with more costs than benefits.

But our friends in the oil and natural gas industries, and their political puppets (i.e., many Virginia politicians), only listen to reason when it turns in their favor. It is, for example, Virginia’s official stance that the federal block on leasing territory on the Outer Continental Shelf off Virginia’s coast (“Lease Sale 220”) should be reversed. That is, for many of Virginia’s politicians, scoring a lease to drill off of Virginia’s coast is worth more politically than saving DoD-dependent Virginia economies like Hampton Roads.

Much more would be adversely affected besides DoD-dependent Virginia economies. Marine ecosystems, whose value cannot possibly be estimated, stand to be irrevocably devastated by drilling and the oil and natural gas industries unfaltering commitment to leaving ecological havoc behind once it’s through with pulling all it can from the earth. And all of this devastation, for what?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management, less than 10 percent of the total estimated recoverable gas and oil resources can be extracted from the U.S. Atlantic continental shelf. And this means even less within Virginia’s territorial waters.

There are no easy solutions to the “energy problem.” But it’s been my experience that addressing a problem by creating a dozen more is probably not the best route to take. If Virginia chooses to drill off its coast, it will open a Pandora’s box of negative consequences, some of which will have been foreseen, others not. 

Dominion Power has a message for Virginians: our profits are more important than your history

I am ever thankful to companies like Dominion Virginia Power who continually remind me why government regulation is a necessity in any mature economy. Exhibit A: Dominion Virginia Power’s plan to build a $155 million, 550-Kilovolt power line east of the Colonial Jamestown settlement across the James River. Protector of Virginia’s historic landscapes and monuments: the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who concluded that Dominion’s plan would “compromise scenic integrity of historic cultural areas surrounding the river.”

According to Dominion’s website, the new power line would involve building  steel towers, some 300 feet tall, from the energy giant’s Surry Nuclear Power Station on the south side of the James River to a switching station near I-64.

According to Washington Post columnist, Peter Galuszka, Dominion is arguing that it requires the 550-kilovolt power line because the company is falling behind in the Hampton Roads and Peninsula energy markets. Part of the reason for Dominion’s drop in energy production is due to its decision to shut down coal-fired power plants in Chesapeake and Yorktown. That’s typical Dominion, blame your lack of imagination  on those darn environmentally concerned Virginians who demanded an end to coal power.

It’s also like Dominion to disregard Virginia’s history, among other things, in its efforts to “meet energy demand” and, of course, turn a hefty profit in the commonwealth. Don’t believe me, check this out. Dominion is so dirty that I wonder if its CEO, Thomas F. Farrell, sleeps with a lump of coal under his pillow at night.

But, you ask, what is wrong with turning a profit? There’s nothing wrong with striking it rich! However, some Americans have come to believe that earning a dollar is earning a dollar, regardless of the consequences, and I beg to differ.

There is a right way and wrong way to go about striking it rich. Did Germans who profited from the Nazi war machine earn their money in the right way? What about an energy company that has to be consistently prodded by concerned individuals to stop burning a form of carbon that is widely known to be detrimental to human health? Now, what about the way that Bill Gates struck it rich? See the difference?!

Dominion doesn’t have to be on the wrong side of the energy-production issue. But through its unswerving pursuit of ever greater profits, it has made decisions based upon its quarterly earnings statements and not the potential negative impacts of its actions, like desecrating Virginia’s historical markers! That’s what makes Dominion Virginia Power a “bad actor.” That’s why I’ll never relent in my criticism of this evil energy empire until it fundamentally reforms its business culture. 

Sen. Tim Kaine publicly opposes proposed Keystone XL pipeline in recent Washington Post editorial

Thank the stars, a Democratic senator in the U.S. Congress from Virginia gets it! That senator is, of course, Tim Kaine, who recently submitted an editorial to the Washington Post clearly stating his opposition to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Although Sen. Kaine’s argument wasn’t predicated on the most environmentally friendly basis (i.e., totally rejecting all super-dirty fossil fuel forms of energy), Virginia’s former governor spoke clearly and passionately about the need to resist the tar sands addiction.

In his own words, Kaine said the following: “I’m a pro-pipeline senator. As a former mayor of Richmond, a city with a gas utility, I think it makes no sense to be anti-pipeline. But I oppose the Keystone XL project. Although the president’s decision is technically over whether to allow a pipeline to deliver oil from Alberta to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the real issue isn’t the pipeline. It’s the wisdom of using tar sands oil.” Indeed, sir, indeed!

Given the fact of human-facilitated or induced global warming, approving the Keystone XL pipeline could quite literally be “game over” for the planet. Dr. James Hansen, former NASA head at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies believed this to be the case so unequivocally that he quit his job at NASA to become a full-time activist against the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. That’s some pretty serious business!

It’s so serious, in fact, that Senator Kaine has felt compelled to publicly urge his friend and political ally, President Obama, to dump the pipeline proposal for a different shot at the “all of the above” energy policy.

It isn’t clear, as yet, what President Obama will decide to do about the pipeline. The president has found himself in the unfortunate position of “really damned if I don’t” but “even more damned if do.” What is now clear is that with political pressure mounting from even long-time loyal supporters like Sen. Tim Kaine, the decision to fold in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline just became all that much more difficult.

A big thanks goes out to Sen. Kaine, to whom the decision to publicly oppose the pipeline could not have been the easiest in political terms. In human, moral, terms, of course, the decision to strike down the pipeline couldn’t be any easier. 

Cuccinelli conservatives lament big government while taking federal ‘handouts’ at every turn

The funny thing about Cuccinelli-conservatives is that while they talk about states’ rights and federal government overreach, they are more than willing to take federal ‘handouts’ when they’re available and popular with their respective constituency. And so it is with Cuccinelli and federal funding, or in this case, a national Medicaid fraud settlement that has Virginia on the receiving end of $105 million.

On Wednesday, the Virginia attorney general’s (AG) office once again requested that the Department of the Treasury release Virginia’s portion of the Medicaid fraud settlement WITHOUT the details on how Virginia intends on spending the money. That is, Cuccinelli’s office is playing the conservative macho game: “I’ll take your federal money, but not on your terms!” What a tough guy!

In a written statement released on Wednesday, the Treasury Department said that "procedures need to be followed in order to ensure the proper allocation of funds," and that the guidelines that the department has set are those applied in all asset forfeiture cases. But wouldn’t you know it, the attorney general’s office doesn’t quite see the issue this way.

Also in a letter released Wednesday, John F. Childrey, a deputy Virginia attorney general, let the Treasury Department know that its demand for greater details of how the $105 million will be spent by the AG’s office is inconsistent with its own past practice and guidelines. And my fellow Virginians, it has to be one or the other.

According to Childrey, the Treasury Department allows this form of money to be transferred to law enforcement agencies without prior approval; special authorization is only necessary when the attorney general proposes allocating the money to areas outside of law enforcement.

Amid this new squabble between Cuccinelli’s office and the federal government, let’s not forget the real people who stand to suffer the most as a result: the people of Virginia. If the Treasury Department is arbitrarily redrawing the guidelines for dispersing settlement money, it needs to relent. If the AG’s office is required to submit an outline of how the money will be spent, it must do so. Put a stop to the political games and fighting.  

For Cuccinelli, stop acting like you don’t take ‘government handouts’ because you do more often than not. Here is another case and point. 

When it rains, it pours: Terry McAuliffe calls on VA AG to recuse his office from natural gas case

It was only a matter of time and that time came on Wednesday when Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, Terry McAuliffe, called on Virginia’s attorney general and Republican Party gubernatorial candidate to “recuse” his office in ongoing litigation between two energy companies, EQT Production Co. and CNX Gas Co, and Southwest Virginia property owners.

One of the energy companies, Consol Energy (CNX is a subsidiary), is on the list of Cuccinelli political donors, and in a big way. Over the past two years, Consol Energy has contributed over $100,000 to the Republican gubernatorial candidates’ campaign.

All well and good, right? What’s wrong with contributing six figures to a political office holder? The rub appeared as it was revealed that the attorney general’s office was offering legal advice to the two energy companies currently in a legal dispute with Virginia property owners.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Meade Sargent reviewed some of the emails between Cuccinelli’s office and lawyers for the two energy companies and “shockingly” discovered this obvious conflict of interest, rendering choice words for the attorney general’s office. “Shockingly, these emails show that the Board, or at least Pigeon [assistant attorney general, Sharon Pigeon], has been actively involved in assisting EQT and CNX with the defense of these cases, including offering advice on and providing information for use on the Motions before the court."

Not surprisingly, McAuliffe also had some words of his own for Cuccinelli’s dereliction of office: "The idea that the attorney general's office would have been working in concert with two out-of-state gas companies against Virginia's own citizens is very troubling.” Oh, I forgot to mention, both energy companies are Pittsburgh-based companies. Treason!

For any Virginians who aren’t convinced by now that Cuccinelli and his political pal in the Executive Mansion have greased their way through their current political stints as the state’s top legal representative and executive, respectively, it’s hard to conceive what additional evidence is required. Indeed, all evidence suggests that a Ken Cuccinelli governorship would be akin to putting Donald Trump in the White House: the highest political donor takes all!

While I kid, nothing could be more serious and unsettling than a high public official so conspicuously pimping his office to moneyed interests and degrading the attorney general’s office and political system in the process. I might not agree with some of the policy positions that McAuliffe has recently taken, but at least I know that McAuliffe will stand up for the people of Virginia, and not out-of-state energy companies. Cuccinelli has already proven where he stands. 

Virginia Uranium Inc. is actively working to pressure Virginia’s politicians to rethink uranium mining

With the 2013 Virginia General Assembly session in the legislative record books, the issue of uranium mining has fallen off of the mainstream media’s proverbial radar, but not Virginia Uranium Inc.’s (VUI). Far from sitting on the sidelines and waiting passively for another round of political battles with Virginians who see the significant dangers of mining uranium in Virginia, VUI has continued to push, prod, lobby, hob-knob, and discuss strategies for defeating Virginians concerned about the welfare of their state.

And on Monday, more bad news came out on the uranium mining front. At a presentation sponsored by the Roanoke River Basin Association (RRBA), the Director of Southwest Information and Research Center, Mr. Paul Robinson, discussed some of the misdeeds perpetrated by the Virginia Department of Mines, Mineral and Energy (DMME).

According to one source, the DMME “chose not to promulgate regulations to protect the environment, public health, and public transparency.” Instead, VUI was allowed to drill for uranium without the public’s knowledge or consent. Furthermore, DMME doesn’t require uranium mining companies to notify the public before they go digging for uranium. It almost sounds as if Virginia’s political system is gamed on the side of energy interests…

For a good deal of Virginia lawmakers, the idea of “energy independence” and the windfall profits that can be had from the copious extraction of uranium ore from Virginia’s soil is an offer they simply can’t refuse, except of course for the elected officials who live near the uranium extraction sites.

The debate over uranium mining in Virginia has boiled down to two opposing viewpoints: those who stick on the side of caution and want to take the process of lifting the moratorium on uranium mining slowly (if at all) and those who somehow believe that uranium mining can be carried out safely in the Commonwealth of Virginia and would like to lift the moratorium immediately.

If the moratorium is to be lifted on the mining of uranium in Virginia, the impetus to prove that the process of mining can be done safely is obviously on those who wish to see the moratorium lifted. To date, the greatest evidence that has been given are false analogies between uranium mining sites in other U.S. states and Virginia, clearly disregarding the notable climatic differences and the fact that uranium mining sites in the U.S. have hardly been environmentally benign.

But VUI and its friends and supporters are not interested in the facts or the welfare of Virginians who stand to lose their homes and their ways of life if uranium tailings start showing up in the groundwater, or worse. VUI is worried about digging up the earth to the benefit of its shareholders, political puppets, and ownership.

Ultimately, it is the people of Virginia who must stand up and resist attempts to mine and bury Virginia’s future. There won’t be a second chance so let’s act now and continuously until VUI and its ambitions are as soundly buried as the uranium ore it so desperately wants to dig up. 

Virginia’s McDonnell royal family has been charging Virginia’s taxpayers from nearly day one

Don’t look now but Gov. Bob McDonnell’s political ship has just taken another shot to its sails. Spending records from Virginia’s Executive Mansion show a hodge-podge of personal charges that McDonnell and family have charged to the mansion’s account (i.e., the taxpayers of Virginia).

I know what you’re thinking, isn’t that…yes, it’s corruption, unless Virginians are to assume Bob McDonnell and his wife have the Intelligence Quotient of a sea-shell. Now that I think about it...

According to the Washington Post, the McDonnell’s have billed Virginia taxpayers for dog vitamins 

(WTF!?), sunscreen, a digestive system “detox clense,” and body wash. But wait, it gets better. The McDonnell’s also had state employees play errand-runner for their grown children.

According to the records, the official who oversees spending at the Executive Mansion gave the McDonnell’s a ‘refresher’ on what Virginia’s taxpayers won’t foot for its occupants after only six months in the mansion. But like McDonnell’s political career, it shortly went out the window as the McDonnell’s continued to charge various personal items like vitamins, sleep-inducing concoctions, and nasal spray to the taxpayers of Virginia.

Although the disclosed records show a small tab picked up by Virginia’s taxpayers, the actions of the McDonnell’s, and in particular ‘Bob’, contribute to a general trend that has emerged regarding McDonnell’s spending patterns, or rather his tendency to let others pick up the bill.

McDonnell is still under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for accepting $15,000 in catering costs from a campaign donor for Cailin McDonnell’s wedding at the Executive Mansion in June 2011. If only we all knew supporters with such deep pockets who donate $15,000 out of the pure kindness of their hearts!

Will this latest and greatest revelation regarding McDonnell’s spending habits finally arouse the concentrated anger of the citizens of Virginia? McDonnell didn’t exactly hold up the Federal Reserve building in Richmond but he did show, once again, that he is quite comfortable handing Virginians the check. Maybe it’s the straw that finally broke the proverbial camel’s back!

Sen.s Mark Herring and Mark Obenshain share the same first name, but little else

The first debate between Virginia’s opposing candidates for VA Attorney General, Virginia Sen. Mark R. Herring (D-Loudoun) and Virginia Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) quickly revealed an ocean of differences between the two in what was typically described by the mainstream media as a “sparring” match.

Even though neither candidate threw a physical punch during their debate, their verbal jabs created a tense and abrasive atmosphere that felt more like an episode of Jerry Springer than a political exchange between two legislative aficionados. In other words, it was fun to view!

At one point in the debate, Herring stated that Sen. Obenshain would view the job as attorney general “through a prism of radical extremism.” I can still feel the heat from that bomb that Sen. Herring dropped on Obenshain.

Obenshain responded by claiming that Herring would attempt to fulfill the duties of attorney general according to his own political beliefs, not with the objectivity necessary of Virginia’s top lawyer. But if anyone has used the office of attorney general for their own political purposes, and according to their own political beliefs, it’s none other than Obenshain’s fellow party member, Ken Cuccinelli.

Each candidate has different views on same-sex marriage, gun control, the rights of women to have an abortion(s). Herring, for example, is in favor of expanding background checks for guns. Obenshain seemed to agree, in part. Obenshain said, “We need to make sure guns are out of the hands of those that should not have them. But imposing further restrictions on law-abiding citizens is not the solution.” But this seemingly subtle difference is actually quite substantial.

It will be interesting to see how ‘independent’ voters in Virginia perceived the debate (i.e., who “won”). And for my own part, I hope that the candidates move beyond the same-sex marriage, gun control, and abortion rights issues. What about, for example, the expansion of health care, or government ease-dropping?

Along the fighting thematic lines of the mainstream media, both candidates appear to be more than willing to trade blow for blow and not dance around each other for 9 rounds. It should be a lot of fun to watch! 

Ken Cuccinelli under attack again for questionable actions as Virginia’s Attorney General

Republican Party candidate for Virginia governor, Ken Cuccinelli, is under attack (again) by Terry McAuliffe’s campaign for improperly interfering with a class-action civil case and allegedly disallowing landowners from receiving their royalty payments.

McAuliffe’s allegations follow those made by Virginia Sen. Phillip Puckett (D-Lebanon) last week. Sen. Puckett called for an investigation into Cuccinelli’s actions vis-à-vis a state Inspector General.

In Cuccinelli’s defense, Republican Party legislators Terry Kilgore and Bill Carrico turned to the old Virginia Republican rhetorical default: the out-of-state scare tactic.

According to Kilgore and Carrico, the class-action suit in question would enrich “Mississippi trial lawyers” at the expense of Virginia landowners owed royalties from methane gas extractions.

Kilgore stated, “The most important fact about this is lawyers coming into this state, Mississippi trial lawyers, flying into this state ... and if they get their way, their clients may suffer access to their royalty payments.” It’s good to know that Kilgore and company are so concerned about the bank accounts of the average Joe Virginian.

According to Carrico, an investigation would “show the attorney general (did) what he is required to do, fighting for the people of Southwest Virginia.” If this is the case, however, wouldn’t the Virginia Republican Party want an investigation to clear Cuccinelli’s sullied name? Maybe this logic is too clear…

It may be true that McAuliffe’s campaign is using this issue for political purposes (in fact, it’s pretty much a fact), but that doesn’t take away from the truthfulness or seriousness of McAuliffe’s claim.

If anything is certain, it’s how beholden the Virginia Republican Party is to energy interests.

Full disclosure: I think Ken Cuccinelli is a detestable demagogue. 

McAuliffe and Cuccinelli asked about prior drug use while the real issues remain sidelined

After Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and aspiring Democratic Party candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe, confirmed their drug free past, it once again raises an important question for political representatives and those aspiring to be one: should one’s past ‘mistakes’, even as a young person, be a reason for disqualification and/or embarrassment?

After Republican candidate for Lt. Gov., E.W. Jackson, admitted to using illegal drugs in the past, the two candidates running for Virginia governor were also put to the fire to answer this ridiculous question.

Behind these questions of illegal drug use are a number of assumptions. First, someone who has used illegal drugs is beyond the pale, someone who has transgressed the laws of society and cannot therefore be entrusted with the reins of government or the public trust in general. Second, if their judgment was this cloudy before, the assumption goes, who’s to say that their judgment won’t be cloudy again as a public representative?

All of these assumptions are, of course, ridiculous. I can vividly recall the many foolish things I did as a kid and I’m sure just about everyone in America can think of at least one instance as a child when they did something that we as adults would perceive to be extremely foolish. And who’s to say that smoking some ‘pot’, for instance, is any more or any less foolish than the acts we committed?

Who cares if E.W. Jackson smoked pot when he was younger or if Cuccinelli or McAuliffe tried illegal drugs in the past? If this is a disqualifier for public service we’ve got a lot of public representative spots to fill.

The point is that our society loves to ask unimportant questions about issues that are greater headline grabbers than they are important topics in the continuing policy discussions that we so desperately need. Instead of asking about candidate drug use, let’s talk about the horrendous drug laws on the books across the country that have landed thousands of low-level offenders in prison. Now that’s a crime.

Let’s also talk about our economy, gun control, voting rights, Virginia’s future, and much more, just not candidate drug use. With that said, I say no more on the subject…

E.W. Jackson opens up in Manassas before his opponents have a chance to pour it on

Typical of someone with a check-marked past, E.W. Jackson’s rhetorical venom has left few progressive sphere’s of Virginia society untouched and on Wednesday, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor may have given the reasons why.

During what the Richmond Times Dispatch describes as “an unusual news conference in Manassas,” Jackson spoke for over 45 minutes about his past and the perceived mistakes he’s made.

According to the nominee for lieutenant governor, Jackson has smoked marijuana (how terrible!), used other controlled substances in the past, and was once ‘forced’ to file for bankruptcy. That is, Jackson has been a failure in his own mind in the past.

Jackson’s perceived resurrection and move beyond his own past has catapulted his social and economic views onto the far-right conservative plane. Like so many on the far-right of the political spectrum, those who have become born-again conservatives are often the ones most zealous and hateful of anyone who isn’t like them, whether they be homosexuals, Muslims, pro-choice advocates, environmentalists, or worse, Democrats.

To the E.W. Jackson’s of the world, they are living proof that hard work, determination, and (in Jackson’s case) the path of God can lead anyone up the social ladder in the U.S. and anyone who disagrees is ‘clearly’ lazy,  waiting on government handouts, and a social parasite. Also, for the Jackson’s of the world, their renewed success leads to an arrogance in their own beliefs and I dare say, Providence, so much so that they mock and verbally assault anyone who doesn’t closely align with their views of the world.  

The way he has gone about delivering his message has only created, and will only create, more tension inside the Commonwealth of Virginia, leaving folks in every political camp with little more than growing impatience and intolerance.

If you want to be a far-right conservative, then go for it, but you don’t have to do so by framing everything you say in the negative. Ultimately, the best policy that anyone can follow is compassion for all human beings. Isn’t that what Jesus Christ taught?!

Virginia Board of Juvenile Justice votes to reopen Richmond Juvenile Detention Center

Without being too cynical, the Virginia Board of Juvenile Justice’s decision on June 12 to reopen the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center may be more of a bane than a boon for Richmond’s youth who find themselves in this institution.

In the early part of 2012, allegations of forged training documents, staff misbehavior, malfunctioning locks and cameras, and ham-fisted management practically forced Mayor Dwight C. Jones to close the center down indefinitely.

Since 2009, the Virginia Board of Juvenile Justice had placed the detention center on its probation list twice.

But a Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) audit swept through the detention center in April, which has reportedly ‘reprogrammed’ and ‘restaffed’ since its closure in April 2012. A DJJ staffer, Ken Bailey, recommended that the Virginia board certify the center for reopening. According to Bailey, “It’s not the old detention center. This is a totally new program.” For those unfortunate individuals who find themselves inhabitants of the center, let’s hope so!

Although Mr. Bailey may absolutely be on the mark, how did the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center ever get to be so poorly managed in the first place? Was it political oversight or apathy, or sheer indifference?

The point is that if the problem occurred once, it doesn’t appear that the symptoms which originally drove this problem are any closer to being resolved. The unfortunate truth is that the detention center holds individuals who are deemed by our society as being unimportant, or less important than the rest of us. So when the political spotlight is turned away, corruption and mismanagement can ensue.

It doesn’t have to be this way, of course. We don’t have to wait until issues in society erupt before we come together as concerned citizens to do something about it. In the case of the center, though, it was the city that waited too long to act and those most vulnerable in society were reminded again of how little society values their worth.

Do you think political party loyalty is a net good or a net bad for the Commonwealth of Virginia?

While the Democratic Party primary came and went without much fanfare on June 11th, the issue of partisanship and party loyalty has become over the past few years the sine qua non of political life in Virginia. With politicians on the right like Ken Cuccinelli and Robert Marshall, many Virginians in the liberal camp in particular have felt compelled to ‘stick to their guys’.

But the idea of uncritically following one political party or another has almost always been an illogical one. No single political party represents the full range of my political views and I suspect that many Virginians feel the same way too. 

While I would like nothing more than the Ken Cuccinelli’s of Virginia and the country to be denied any possibility for the great honor and responsibility of public service, I cannot and won’t defend an opposing politician when he or she espouses views I am fundamentally opposed to. For instance, any Democrat who proposes that Virginia begin drilling for offshore sources of energy, you have my undying opposition.

What stands above party or partisanship is what each individual thinks is right. If I strongly believe that candidate X is wrong about an issue, should I remain silent and “go with the flow?” Would you?

If we choose to self-censor ourselves, that’s our own prerogative. But in so doing, we do a disservice to the liberties that we have won as Americans, the liberty to individual freedom of thought, speech, and action. 

And if we decline to use these liberties for the sake of what we perceive as protecting candidate X, what’s to stop this from occurring again and again? Where does it end and who and what are we really harming?

The point is this, while I identify more so with politicians of the Democratic Party, I won’t defend them when they commit to policies which undermine strongly held beliefs of my own. And in the long run, it’s this kind of ‘internal’ opposition that is necessary to move the party back in the direction that we desire. Uncritical political loyalty is no different than putting a band-aid over a gaping hole in a ship. Sooner or later, the ship will sink because we failed to take proper action.  

One more wheel comes off the Bob McDonnell mobile: Ramadan to testify before a grand jury

The probe into Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s so-called “gifts” recently widened after it was reported that a Republican Party legislator, Del. David Ramadan (Loudoun - VA), was summoned to appear before a federal grand jury in July as part of the continuing investigation into McDonnell’s gift receipts and potential political favoritism.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been conducting interviews regarding the relationship between the CEO of a dietary supplement company, Star Scientific, and Bob and Maureen McDonnell. While Virginia law does not prohibit the giving of political gifts, it does disallow political favors for political gifts.

It would be quite odd, however, if someone spent thousands of dollars on a political candidate and/or his or her immediate family without the expectation or the actual receipt of political favors. Would you just shell out over $10,000 for the wedding of someone else’s daughter without the expectation of some favor in return? If you answered “yes” by any chance, then you are one of a saintly few who would commit such an act of selflessness.

That Virginia’s opinion of McDonnell has been so strong for this long is a testament to the image that McDonnell successfully framed for himself in the minds of Virginia’s voters. McDonnell was the “honest Abe” of present-day Virginia politics, a man of supposedly high integrity and the best interests of all Virginians never too far from his thoughts.

With the growing scandal, a different image of McDonnell has gradually emerged and as evidence continues to unfold, this image may well supersede the “honest Abe” image that held for the first three years of his governorship. Once a sparkling supernova in the eyes of Virginians, McDonnell’s luster has faded as the ‘man of the middle ground’ has become increasingly viewed as the ‘man who won’t turn a gift down’ and a liability to the Republican Party. 

Did McDonnell show favoritism towards Star Scientific? To be continued…

Fairfax County School Board votes 9 to 2 in favor of reducing some strict disciplinary policies

On Friday, the Fairfax County School Board took a more enlightened position and voted to reduce penalties for possessing marijuana as well as new policies about how parents are notified.

In a 9 to 2 vote, the handbook on student rights and responsibilities was approved in its revised version.

During the next school year, students caught for the first time with a “small” amount of marijuana MAY receive a softer punishment than was the case before, according to The Washington Post. The “second chance” policy will give Fairfax County students an opportunity to attend an alcohol and drug seminar during a portion of their suspension.

As the Post explains, the Fairfax County School Board established a 40-member committee that spent over five months looking over the county’s discipline policies. The committee ended up making 52 recommendations to improve the way the Fairfax County school system applies punishments.

Not surprisingly, however, some of the ‘reform advocates’ are arguing that the new Fairfax County policies do not accurately reflect the recommendations of the 40-member committee. Given the number of interests involved, it would have been unreasonable to expect all parties would be completely or even somewhat satisfied with the eventual end result. According to one committee member, the new policies allow principles “too much leeway” and do not recognize parents’ role in the discipline process.

The new policies do make an important step in the right direction towards correcting some of the draconian disciplinary procedures that so many schools in Virginia follow for such minor offenses as the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Virginia and the country as a whole have appeared to forget that “kids will be kids,” that young people make mistakes and that each of us learn and have learned from those invaluable mistakes. No one should be held to account for minor offenses by being thrown out of school or unreasonably disciplined.

As I’ve discussed before, the search for perfection, whether it be economic perfection, perfection in the schools, or perfection in our daily lives will always be an elusive and sometimes destructive process and is therefore not a worthy goal worth pursuing. In the school systems, one form of perfection has been the endeavor to root out any and all so-called “misbehavior.” Short of turning schools into prisons, this result will never happen and nor should it.  

Republican endorsements and ‘old left’ abandonment, you can’t have your cake and eat it too

Democratic candidate for Virginia governor’s endorsement by long-time Republican supporter Bruce Thompson is as sure a sign as any that Terry McAuliffe has sold his political soul to the ‘moderate’ conservatives of the Republican Party. What McAuliffe promised or suggested he would give in return is unclear.

Thompson is a Virginia Beach developer who has also served under the kingship of Gov. Bob McDonnell. Thompson explained why he is supporting McAuliffe: "I am supporting Terry because I know he will focus on diversifying Virginia’s economy and put in place policies that attract and keep the best businesses here in Hampton Roads and across the Commonwealth." 

The endorsement by Thompson comes on top of endorsements by Northern Virginia Republicans and business leaders, a clear sign that Republican candidate for governor, Ken Cuccinelli, has alienated Republicans in Northern Virginia.

While some of my friends on the left have viewed and lauded these Republican endorsements as further evidence of McAuliffe’s strong candidacy, what it says to me is that some of the typically Democratic Party policy positions such as environmental protection will be discarded when and where this ‘nuisance’ interrupts the insatiable flow of economic progress. 

No longer satisfied or comfortable relying on Virginia’s Democratic Party base, the three most visible politicians in Virginia’s Democratic Party have sought to expand the sphere of Democratic Party inclusiveness to Virginia business leaders who consider themselves Republicans. 

Virginia’s Democrats can get away with these moves because some of the institutions that inhabit true blue states, such as labor unions, have less than a leg on the ground in the ‘Commonwealth’.

The sad conclusion I have drawn so far from McAuliffe’s campaign for governor is that the ‘old left’ is being left behind (pun intended) by a Democratic Party that has apparently taken the ‘old left’s’ votes and loyalty for granted.

Creating jobs and looking out for economic growth is something that most Americans want, regardless of their perceived party affiliation. But the issue for individuals like me isn’t whether we should focus on job growth and economic prosperity; it’s how we achieve these goals while protecting our ‘natural environment’. For McAuliffe, protecting the environment appears to be secondary to the unceasing push for economic growth.

More jobs today but no environment worth saving tomorrow! Three cheers!

E.W. Jackson fined for noncompliance with Virginia campaign finance disclosure regulations

Not only is E.W. Jackson a bigot, he’s also a little bit slow to pick up on Virginia’s loan disclosure rules for political campaigns. On May 8^th, Charlottesville lawyer Donald Lee Woodsmall gave Jackson a $25,000 loan. Under Virginia law, however, candidates are required to report contributions or loans of $5,000 or more by 1700 the next day if the contribution is made 12 days before a nominating event.

The State Board of Elections fined the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor a bank-busting $100 that still hasn’t been paid by Jackson. Conservatives like to justify this kind of behavior as sticking it to the state, but campaign finance laws are in place for good reason, many good reasons.

According to Jackson’s spokesman, Greg Aldridge, the campaign didn’t know it had received a fine for failing to disclose a political loan in the timeframe specified by Virginia law. Aldridge reportedly stated, “You’re telling me something new. As far as I know, we’ve disclosed everything on time. But we are going to look into it.” In other words, our campaign isn’t very well organized OR we’re going to disregard the issue OR both.

That hasn’t been the only ‘mistake’ made by Jackson regarding his campaign finance reports, either. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, Jackson failed to itemize $95,000 in donations made from April 1 through May 29, as required by Virginia law. The Jackson campaign noted that it would submit an amended version later.

But if Jackson runs his political ship this loosely (not to mention his mouth), what can this tell us about the possibility of a Jackson lieutenant governorship?  By any fair account, Jackson as lieutenant governor would be disastrous for a state that is already in the national spotlight for its war on women’s rights. Now add to that a war on gay rights and a host of other progressive issues and you have the recipe for a state that is known best for its absurdly right-wing politicians.

So what, you say? If Virginia is going to keep growing economically and socially, it has to have the talent and respect for each other to do so. It can achieve both through greater tolerance of all peoples and a willingness to look past our own self interests for the greater good of society. 

NSA, go away and mine America’s data for the ever elusive terrorist threat some other day

Upon learning of the news about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) sweeping affronts to the basic notion of civil liberty, I couldn’t resist putting in my two-cents. If you haven’t heard it, read it, or watched it on the news yet, the NSA, with the acquiescence of the Bush and Obama administrations, has undertaken a data mining project that would make Orson Well’s Big Brother jealous.

In 2007, the NSA project named PRISM was developed to mine private pieces of digital information across a broad spectrum of digital information providers from cell phone companies to internet service providers. It appears that the purpose of this vast and preposterous information gathering extravaganza is to track down the ever present and ever ambiguous other known as the “terrorist” and his/her larger group or cell.

Few Americans would deny the importance of stopping global terrorism, but we have little asked whether this is even an achievable goal and, if so, at what costs to the fundamental liberties and freedoms which so many Americans think they possess? It can’t be said with enough force or enough times: if we are willing to sacrifice the very ideas and practices which we have created as part of our American identity, then the terrorists have won more than just the battle, they’ve won the war.

No great civilization in human history hasn’t faced internal and external threats; It appears inevitable that with great power come great challenges. But just as clearly is the main lesson we can extract from these challenges: turning away from the ideas and behaviors that made the civilization great in the first place is a one-way ticket to inevitable collapse. In America’s case, it may not be a collapse, however, but an absolute suffocation of all the principles, beliefs, and virtues that has made America what it proclaims to be. Whether or not America has actually ever lived up fully to its own rhetoric is really beside the point.

The point is that without the hope in the principles that underlie the American dream (i.e., individual privacy; freedom of speech; freedom of assembly, etc.), the greatest experiment in human freedom will have come to an avoidable failure.

I truly mourn for those who have been lost since the September 11, 2001 attacks. But I’d like to think that their memory and their wishes would be best served by never allowing a totalitarian state wrap itself around the American people in the guise of our ultimate protector. We owe it to them, we owe it to ourselves. 

Women, military, and sexual assault: Tim Kaine reminds Virginian’s what’s at stake for our future

While millions of Americans watch and listen to NBC’s The Voice, the voice of women in the military who have been sexually assaulted has largely gone unheard until quite recently. Amid the revelations of increasing sexual assaults among members of America’s armed forces (predominantly against women), the Senate Armed Services Committee hauled all six members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff into the Senate chambers to testify at the same time about this alarming problem.

According to a Pentagon study of active-duty uniformed personnel released in June, 1.2% of men and 6.1% of women reported receiving “unwanted sexual contact” in 2012.

Among members of the Senate Armed Services Committee was Virginia’s own Tim Kaine, who outlined the negative consequences he believes rising cases of sexual assault in the armed forces have on the military leadership and society as a whole.

At a recent speech Senator Kaine gave at Mary Baldwin College’s Virginia Women’s Institute of Leadership, Kaine said, “They [Mary Baldwin cadets] were asking me about the sexual assault issue. When someone says ‘I’ll put my life on the line and I will risk death in harm’s way but I won’t risk entering a culture that has allowed this to grow’ – that is a very serious concern. We all want to make sure the best leaders of the future feel like this is a career they can pursue.”

The issue of sexual assault predominantly directed against women is more than just a women’s issue. Sexual assault of any kind is a stain on the fabric of American society that mocks the notion of a fair and equal society and the rule of law. If the laws of our society do not equally apply to everyone, then our society will be that much less legitimate and able to maintain that sense of respect that every well-founded society has experienced throughout human civilization.

To the extent that women do not feel safe in their own society is also the extent to which our economic system deprives itself of immense sources of talent. But more importantly, it’s the extent to which women cannot truly be equal citizens with their male counterparts. I grew up thinking that America stood for progress, but that doesn’t sound like progress to me.   

McAuliffe out-raises Cuccinelli while the governorship remains just as elusive to the average Virginian

Virginia’s Democratic Party candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe, is known for his distinctive ability to make money as a private citizen, but fundraising figures released on Monday evening also show McAuliffe’s ability to raise money for his own political campaign.

Over the entire year, in fact, McAuliffe has held a fundraising advantage over his challenger, Ken Cuccinelli, the latter of which has raised $2.2 million since the beginning of 2013.

But what’s often left out of discussions surrounding campaign fundraising figures is the ridiculous amount of money it takes to run an effective campaign for Virginia’s governorship or for a seat in the U.S. Congress.

The issue of the amount of money it takes to run an effective political campaign for almost any state or federal elected office brings together two American ideas that have been at odds since the founding of the United States: the right and ability of any U.S. citizen to run for public office and free market capitalism.

While, theoretically, any U.S. citizen who hasn’t lost his or her right to do so can run for public office, in a time and place where campaigns at the state and federal levels can surge upwards into the millions of dollars, it isn’t practical to conclude that any eligible U.S. citizen can run for public office. And by run, I mean, have at least a fair shot at winning.

And then there’s the free market, a market which allows campaigns for public office to run into the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Yet, the free market is as American as apple pie (I never quite understood this analogy; has it been proven?!). But the free market can and sometimes does restrict the average American from having a fair shot at winning public office.

At present, we’ve chosen the market over the ability of any eligible U.S. citizen to have a fair shot at winning public office. And in so doing, the aristocratic sheaths that were gradually stripped away from the original American fabric have re-grown in a semi-familiar guise under a new class of aristocratic Americans.   

For all of their rhetoric to the contrary, neither Terry McAuliffe or Ken Cuccinelli are the average American. In their own ways, they are part of the new aristocratic class in America that will not or cannot see past their own ambitions to a Virginia that wisely utilizes its wealth instead of squandering it. 

Another “error” by McDonnell on his annual financial disclosures should be a political TKO

Another “error” made by Gov. Bob McDonnell on his 2011 and 2012 financial disclosure forms was recently uncovered. In this latest “oops” affair, it appears that Gov. McDonnell misrepresented his wife’s, Maureen McDonnell, role with the Frances G. and James W. McGlothlin Foundation.

On his annual financial disclosure forms for 2011 and 2012, McDonnell stated that his wife performed the role of paid trustee for the Frances G. and James W. McGlothlin Foundation. Unfortunately for McDonnell, James McGlothlin has no such recollection.

Instead, McGlothin stated that his family foundation asked Maureen McDonnell to become an adviser to the Frances G. and James W. McGlothlin Foundation and the United Co., a real estate and natural resources company based out of Bristol, Virginia whose website is almost as bad as its business is for the health and welfare of Virginians (cough, cough).

As The Washington Post pointed out, by reporting that his wife was on the McGlothlin Foundation board, Bob McDonnell didn’t have to disclosure how much his wife was paid. And my fellow Virginians, if Bob McDonnell is engaging in this kind of educated backdoor disclosure scheme, there is almost certainly more where this came from among the rustic circles of Virginia’s Republican Party (and I’m sure the Democratic Party, as well), not to mention McDonnell himself.

Not surprisingly, Virginia’s governor, who is either a criminal, incompetent, or both, declined to comment about this latest “error” on his annual disclosure forms. In our bastion state of progressivism, elected officials MUST legally disclose any employer that pays their spouses at least $10,000 a year.

According to The Washington Post, “By listing it as a paid trusteeship instead, he did not have to provide any information about the size of her compensation.”

So while thousands of Virginians have struggled over the course of McDonnell’s tenure as governor to find a job or a livable wage (by American standards), Maureen McDonnell was paid $36,000 in 2012 merely because she is the wife of a sitting governor. It’s good to be the king (and queen)!

I don’t wish for anyone, even Ken Cuccinelli, to be publicly humiliated. But when an elected official so egregiously affronts the laws of our state and its norms, it not only throws a big middle finger in the face of hard working and law-abiding Virginians, it also undermines the faith that many Virginian’s may have had in their system of government.

As I’ve said before, this may only be the tip of the iceberg for McDonnell. Given the picture that has been painted so far, McDonnell and his wife immersed themselves in a world of privilege and luxury paid for by wealthy Virginians who have business interests waiting to be massaged by the executive branch.

As something of an aside, all of these “gifts” make one wonder how much a company like Virginia Uranium Inc., with so much on the line during the last session of the General Assembly, gave to his highness, Bob McDonnell, to lead them to the promise land of boundless uranium ore?

Regardless of what we find out on that front, there’s no question now that McDonnell’s political career has just hit a nuclear meltdown! 

At least hundreds of volunteers pick up garbage in waters across Virginia on June 1st

Saturday saw a host of “Clean the Bay” and the “Clean the River” events across Virginia. Whether it was the 25^th annual Clean the Bay Day sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation or the 2^nd annual Paddle Green event sponsored by the American Canoe Association (ACA), at least hundreds of Virginians concerned about the health of our state’s waters turned out to pick up garbage that has accumulated.  

While federal and state efforts have focused on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) of phosphorous, nitrogen, and sediment, efforts to clean up the enormous amount of garbage that accumulates in Virginia’s waters has largely been left to nonprofit organizations and concerned Virginians.

Not only does garbage look aesthetically displeasing in our waters, it also harms aquatic organisms and ultimately, humans. Plastics, to give but one example, can be consumed by aquatic life which can then be eaten by human beings. Did you know your last seafood meal could have also contained micro-bits of plastic? That’s probably not what you were expecting on the ingredients list.  

As time has progressed and more Virginians have become increasingly aware of the effects they can have on our ecosystem through personal garbage disposal behaviors, the amount of garbage that has ended up in Virginia’s waters appears to have decreased. According to Mark Faust, a Clean the Bay Day volunteer, "It's [the Chesapeake Bay] looking better now. It's improving all the time." In other words, the amount of trash that volunteers picked up this year was less than in previous years. But is this because Virginians are dumping less of their garbage in Virginia’s waters?

During the Paddle Green event in Fredericksburg, I was pleasantly surprised by the relatively low levels of garbage that were collected by volunteers. Then again, there are at least four annual ‘river clean ups’ in the Fredericksburg area and the group of volunteers I was with still managed to pick a shopping cart and a bicycle out of the Rappahannock River, just to name two of the biggest items. How does a shopping cart and a bicycle end up in the water?!

While the big items found are often the most discussed, it is actually items such as cigarette butts, plastics, and broken pieces of glass that pose the greatest threats to aquatic life. Because these items are oftentimes small enough to consume, they end up moving through the aquatic food chain and sometimes, into human stomachs. And this is just one of the many negative effects of these smaller items discarded in Virginia’s waters.

Virginia has come a long way in terms of environmental awareness since I moved here some years ago. But we still have a ways to go. More than any single factor, the most effective means by which Virginia can once again reach a ‘pristine’ environment is through educated and mindful individual choices. The problem begins and ends with each of us and the actions we choose.  

Cuccinelli, in between roles as attorney general and gubernatorial candidate, waxes on the economy

If Virginia were a business, it probably wouldn’t allow its chief counsel to simultaneously run for president of the company (both are full time jobs!). Yet according to Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, “Virginia is like a big business competing with others nationally and internationally.” Epic fail on the analogy scale, Cuccinelli.

Virginia’s top counsel made this statement on Friday morning at Foster’s Grill in Alexandria where he unveiled his masterful plan to spur economic growth and increase employment. As an aside, I call on all political candidates and elected officials to forswear the “job creation” rhetoric. It’s a given that political candidates want to “create jobs.” Can anyone imagine a candidate running on a platform of not creating jobs or even reducing the number of jobs?!

In Cuccinelli’s unshaken opinion, “The minute we stop working to improve is the minute we fall behind.” If that’s the case, then a Virginia with Cuccinelli at the helm is on a fateful path to screwed-ville.

While I agree with some of the economic ideas of Cuccinelli (scary!) such as a “small business tax relief commission,” Republican solutions to “increasing flexibility” for small businesses and local governments all too often means lower revenues and a reduction in what many Virginians have come to consider essential government services (e.g., park maintenance, public transportation, etc.).

It’s also the case that Cuccinelli has lied through his teeth so many times, has stood on the far-right political platform for so long, and has conducted himself questionably as Virginia’s attorney general in a number of ways (e.g., running for governor while holding the position of Virginia’s attorney general) that it’s difficult to have confidence in anything that he says.

What kind of individual writes and releases a book while attorney general, runs for a very public and high-profile office while still holding the position of attorney general, and buys stock in a company that he should have done basic research on, first?

Answer: one that cannot be trusted with the welfare of an entire state. 

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli still refuses to criticize Jackson’s views on gays and abortion

Somehow, Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli slipped through the cracks of reality upon his emergence onto this planet. And there is no better example of this than Thursday’s statement made by Cuccinelli regarding his running mate’s hate mongering comments about Planned Parenthood and homosexuals.

The Republican pick for lieutenant governor in the great state of Virginia, ‘Bishop’ E. W. Jackson, isn’t too short on examples of asinine comments regarding touchy social issues. Just to name a few, Jackson has called homosexuals “very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally” and has compared Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan. The latter statement can easily be disproved because no one on record for Planned Parenthood has been witnessed riding around on horseback in a white bed-sheet.

According to The Washington Post, Cuccinelli had this to say when asked whether he could explain the remarks of his running mate: “It doesn’t change our message a lick. He’s got to defend all his own statements and he’s going to go about doing that, but we run our own race.”

As noted before, it would be difficult for Cuccinelli to criticize his running partner’s positions on issues such as abortion and gay rights because the attorney general and Jackson are closely in agreement. Bigot #1 and Bigot #2.

Herein lies the true reason why Cuccinelli won’t chastise Jackson’s controversial views too severely, if at all. It’s because Cuccinelli has publicly stated similar beliefs!

If ever a political ticket were to write themselves (or speak themselves) out of office, it’s this pair of oddly self-reaffirming New Right representatives in Virginia, a group of conservatives so disdainful of difference and ‘big government’ that they are willing to use the latter to subdue the former (and enrich themselves with favorable stock options, paid-for vacations, and god knows what else).

That these two have gotten this far in the electoral process is a clear symptom of a much larger problem creeping through certain parts of Virginia: ignorance, hate, and stupidity. Americans have a right to these attributes, just not so close to the levers of government power. 

Environment Virginia report warns that extreme weather events will increase without a change

In a report released by Environment Virginia Research and Policy Center (a nonprofit), the conclusion was clear: if greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon are not reduced, human-promoting climate change is likely to bring the number of extreme weather events that Virginia experiences up, including wildfires, hurricanes, coastal storms, heat, snow, and drought.

The report found that over nine out of ten Virginians live in localities that have experienced at least one federally declared weather disaster since 2007.

Among the political backing that the report received on Wednesday was U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott’s, a representative of Newport News, Virginia, an area likely to experience some of the worst affects in Virginia due to human-induced climate change.

According to Rep. Scott, "Virginia has too much at stake to continue to ignore this issue. We cannot continue to dispute the vast evidence, such as the evidence presented in this report, that continues to pile up confirming that climate change is happening and we need to address it. We have already wasted too much time foot-dragging."

To add further scientific weight to the conclusions reached in the Environment Virginia report, NASA scientist Bruce Wielicki added that the report is backed by solid science and should serve as "a wake-up call for all of us here in Hampton Roads."

The solutions to the problem of human-caused climate change are not wholly unattractive options, either. For instance, instead of continuing America’s/Virginia’s focus on carbon intensive fuels like coal and oil, America and Virginia could make a real effort to achieve higher levels of renewable energy use. Examples include increased biofuel, solar and wind power use. While there have been advances in renewable energy technology, the energy market remains saturated with ancient fossils we know as natural gas, coal, and oil.

Saving the planet is not a political issue, contrary to what some super wealthy Americans and their hoard of think tanks, shock troops, paid-for politicians, and academic scallions would have us believe.

It’s time for all Americans to get involved, in our own ways, in helping reduce the energy we all consume on a daily basis. If that means turning off a computer monitor every night before bed then so be it, it’s better than nothing. So while government has a role to play in reducing carbon-intensive practices, we as American citizens also have our own part to play as well.